Simone Fraser was murdered by Peter Brown over a $3800 debt he owed to her.Source:Facebook

A Melbourne judge was left waiting for the right Peter Brown to appear in his courtroom so he could sentence him to 30 years in prison.

Justice John Champion was scheduled to hand down the sentence to the 57-year-old who brutally murdered Simone Fraser, 57, over a $4000 debt before dumping her body.

But seated in the dock at the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday morning was another Peter Brown. A clerk noticed the mistake almost immediately and alerted the judge, who was “particularly unimpressed”.

When Peter Brown arrived, Justice Champion took less than 40 minutes to sentence him to a minimum term of 24 years.

The crime he committed took place on March 9 this year at Rockport, West of Melbourne.

Brown owed Mrs Fraser $3800 she had loaned to him without knowledge he was sending it — and all the other money he had — to a woman he met online in the Philippines and who he was “infatuated with”.

When Mrs Fraser asked for the money back, Brown time and again told her he didn’t have it. He made up excuses until he had run out of them.

On March 9, after Brown agreeing to meet Mrs Fraser at a Westpac ATM, the pair argued in his backyard.

Brown later admitted to bashing Mrs Fraser over the head repeatedly with a brick before wrapping a plastic bag around her head and sealing it with duct tape.

Mrs Fraser did not die immediately. Brown told police during formal interviews following his arrest that he could still hear her breathing so he struck her over the head with a golf club.

Justice Champion said the murder was “brutal” and “callous”.

“Your offending was extremely violent and unjustified,” he said. “You gave her no chance to breathe, nor survive.”

Supreme Court room full of family members waiting to see a man being sentenced for their loved ones murder. Only problem being - the Peter Brown transferred to court by prison staff is the wrong Peter Brown. No one from corrections in court to explain. @7NewsMelbourne

The court heard Brown met the 25-year-old woman from the Philippines online and “soon after began to send her sums of money, resulting in a rapid decline into debt”.

“You became infatuated with this woman who you have never actually met,” Justice Champion told Brown.

In total, Brown transferred $26,000 to the woman in the Philippines, which included money he had borrowed from Mrs Fraser, money he had stolen from his dying dad and payments he had received from the Transport Accident Commission following a serious car accident.

So desperate was Brown to send the woman money that he set up two accounts using Mrs Fraser’s credit cards during a frantic trip to the Murray Valley Regional Park to dump her body.

After finding a campground, Brown waited until dark to leave Mrs Fraser’s body near a tree. He drove back to Melbourne early the next day but used Mrs Fraser’s cards to pay for petrol and food at a McDonald’s drive-through.

Justice Champion said Brown was driven by his infatuation with the woman he met online.

“Your infatuation led to an obsessional fixation,” he said.

“An unhealthy preoccupation which led you to neglect your own needs. You slept in an arm chair and lost considerable weight.

“You were admitted to Sunshine Hospital having apparently collapsed. You showed signs of physical decline. Your obsession led you to neglect your father, who was declining in health.”

The court heard Brown did not attend his father’s funeral.

Mrs Fraser’s daughter submitted a victim impact statement, parts of which were read out in court today.

She said she finds it difficult to derive job from doing anything and wishes she “could wake up” from her “nightmare”.